reducing carelessness in exams

lavastar SG

Anyone know of ways to reduce careless mistakes in exams? example reading question wrongly, pressing calculators wrongly..etc.. cause these always happen to me..

Rhonda SG

I think you're probably nervous, that's why you make these mistakes.

What level are you at? Always read the question slowly and a few times, then break it up into the parts you need to tackle, and quickly scribble a quick outline of points that you will include to address the question(s).

And then as you write your essay, tick off those points.

And ALWAYS keep a time-check! Right before you enter the exam hall, you'd already know how many questions you're expected to answer, etc. Allocate a certain amount for each section, each essay, and try to observe the time limits. I used to remove my wrist watch and place it right at the front of my desk so I can tell if I need to speed up or not.

Good luck!

lavastar SG

Im at advanced level .also, i like to look around during exams to see how other people are doing.. i duno why.. i tried to prevent myself from doing that but failed which resulted in loss of precious time.

can anyone help me get rid of this habit?

eagle SG

i also always like that one... then what I do is just do more questions... check where you made careless mistakes often, then take more notice on those areas the next time

Rhonda SG

can anyone help me get rid of this habit?

Eh... just don't do it!

I think you sound like you lack confidence. Perhaps, you should practice timing yourself answering exam questions, and study a bit more so that the minute you analyze a question, you don't have to think long before all the points come to you.

If you keep your eyes on the time, why would you need to look around at others?

SBS261P SG

mutual stress one la... especially when u hear some buggers purposely flip flip flip de paper damn loud to stress everyone

look at the paper and the time allocated den set an estimate for the time per mark

e.g. 80 mark paper, 2hours

so you'll need to spend roughly at most 1.5minute for every mark

for those paper with calculator available den easy la, see every question how much time u shld spend. e.g. 3 marks ---> 3 x 1.5 = 4.5minutes

it's a bit like running with a group of people. u dun have to keep pace with other people; u shld keep pace with urself, but keeping in mind that you have a goal (time limit in this case) to meet. so u can just ignore what other ppl do in exam. unless u gt a lot of time la, den look around -.o =DD

FirePig SG

the key to reduce carelessness is to practice more. When you practice more, you will work faster as well. Imagine you can do 4 questions and someone else can only do 2 questions. In the end, you have more time for the harder questions.